Tomorrow (also known as The Tomorrow Show and, after 1980, Tomorrow Coast to Coast) is an American late-night television talk show hosted by Tom Snyder. The show aired on NBC from 1973 to 1982 and featured many prominent guests, including Paul McCartney, "Weird Al" Yankovic (in his first televised appearance), Ayn Rand, John Lennon (in his last televised interview), Jerry Garcia, the Grateful Dead, Ken Kesey, Charles Manson, The Clash, Johnny Rotten, and U2 (in their first American television appearance). Los Angeles news anchor Kelly Lange, a good friend of Snyder, was the regular substitute guest host.
Established as more of an intimate talk show, Tomorrow differed from the usual late-night fare, with host Tom Snyder conducting one-on-one interviews sans audience, cigarette in hand, alternating between asking hard-hitting questions and offering personal observations that made the interview closer to a genuine conversation. Making the show work financially became a challenge for NBC due to extremely low prices for commercial spots that a program at 1 a.m. could command. Since, according to Snyder, a 30-second spot on the show brought in only US$3,000, the network's primary concern initially was cutting production and distribution costs. As satellite transmission was still not in use, the show was sent from coast to coast over telephone lines and it reportedly took NBC the entire first year of Tomorrow broadcasting before they succeeded in getting lower telephone line usage tariffs.
Bizarre moments included a 1979 appearance by Chicago shock-jock Steve Dahl, and a March 1981 appearance by the punk band, The Plasmatics, during which lead singer Wendy O. Williams sledgehammered a TV in the studio. The explosion disrupted a live broadcast of NBC Nightly News being produced in a studio two floors above. Snyder himself referred to this occurrence on a May 1981 followup appearance in which the Plasmatics blew up a car.
Perhaps the most outrageous interview seen on Snyder's show occurred on Halloween 1979, when the rock band KISS appeared to promote their album, Dynasty. During that 25-minute interview, the conversation degenerated into a somewhat chaotic exchange between Snyder and a very drunk Ace Frehley, who picked up Snyder's teddy bear, put the wristlets from his costume on the bear, and laughed, "the only Spacebear in captivity! I've got him — he's captured!" When Snyder asked Ace if his costume was that of some sort of spaceman, Frehley quipped, "No, actually I'm a plumber." Snyder shot back, "Well, I've got a piece of pipe backstage I'd like to have you work on." The inebriated Frehley replied "Tell me about it!", and clapped his hands and cackled hysterically at the exchange. Years later, Gene Simmons revealed on his website that he felt "betrayed" by the other band members during this interview. Shortly thereafter, drummer Peter Criss officially left the band and subsequently appeared on the show, making Snyder the first host to have a member of KISS appearing without makeup in public.
David Letterman and Snyder had a long history together: a 1978 Tomorrow episode hosted by Snyder was almost exclusively devoted to a long interview with up-and-coming new comedy talents Letterman, Billy Crystal and Merrill Markoe. From 1995 to 1999, Snyder hosted another late night talk show, The Late Late Show, produced by Letterman's Worldwide Pants Incorporated.
On September 16, 1980, when The Tonight Show was shortened to 60 minutes, Tomorrow was scheduled at 12:30 AM/11:30 PM and lengthened to 90 minutes, a format that lasted until its cancellation 16 months later. NBC affiliates began dropping the show, most notably Group W-owned sister stations KYW-TV in Philadelphia and WBZ-TV in Boston, both of whom replaced the program with reruns of Hawaii Five-O.
The Tomorrow Show - Tom Snyder's Electric Kool-Aid Talk Show
The Tomorrow Show - Punk & New Wave
The Tomorrow Show - John, Paul, Tom & Ringo
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